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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A female hiker hung on for dear life after being stranded on a steep cliff in Griffith Park Friday evening.

The 25-year-old college student had to be rescued by helicopter.

Kana Kohiyama, a 25-year-old college student, was reported stranded near 2715 N. Vermont Canyon Road at 5:35 p.m. About an hour later, she was airlifted to safety.

“Thank God I’m still alive,” Kohiyama told CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Juan Fernandez. “I was about to die. I was screaming a lot but it took [a] long time. It seemed like it took like one hour.”

She told Fernandez she was on a routine hike when she realized she was on an unfamiliar trail. She thought she was on Hogback Trail, but soon discovered she was lost and walking on ground that continued to narrow and crumble underneath her feet. To keep from falling to her death, she held on to vegetation.

Kohiyama said she did a fair bit of screaming, hoping to get help. People who were on trails above her told her to remain calm.

“I think I was hanging there for one hour and when the helicopter came there it took at least 10 minutes until they found me,” Kohiyama said, “They couldn’t find me immediately. People said don’t talk, don’t exert yourself. But to me talking to people makes me calmer.”

Kohiyama was checked out by medical personnel and allowed to drive home in her own car.